Electric heater for cars.



PATENTED OCT. 20, 1903.

E. M. HERB.

ELECTRIC HEATER FOR CARS.

APPLICATION FILED FEB.14, 1901.

N0 MODEL.

WITNESSES: INVENTOR,

5 M M An y.

THEINQRRS PETERS CQ, PHOTO-THO WASHINGTON n. C.

UNITED STATES Patented October 20, 1908.

PATENT OFFICE.

EDWIN M. HERB, OF PITTSBURG, PENNSYLVANIA, ASSIGNOR TO THE WESTINGHOUSE AIR BRAKE COMPANY, OF PITTSBURG, PENNSYL- VANIA, A CORPORATION OF PENNSYLVANIA.

ELECTREC HEATER FOR OARS.'

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 741,662, dated October 20, 1903.

Application filed February 14,1901. Serial No. 17,277. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, EDWIN M. HERE, a citizen of the United States, residing at Pittsburg, county of Allegheny, State of Pennsylvania, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Electric Heaters for Cars, of which improvement the following is a specification.

My invention relates to electric heaters for cars, and especially to that class of heaters which also serve as resistance devices or rheostats for the controller of electric cars to regulate the current supplied to the motors or to regulate the current generated in a lo cal brake-circuit; and it has for its object to provide means whereby the heater may be located in a position to Warm the interior of the car during cold weather, as in winter, and may be moved to another position where its heat does not affect the interior of the car during warm weather, as in summer.

Heretofore two resistance devices have been employed for this purpose-a rheostat located outside of the car and an electric heater located within the carwith a switch for connecting either the outside rheostat or the inside heater into the circuit for controlling the starting and stopping of the car. This necessitates a double equipment and connections, which is very expensive, while by the use of my invention the electric heater may be used as the controller-resistance device at all times and the outside rheostat and its connections may be dispensed with altogether.

My invention therefore consists in a movable electric heater which may constitute the resistance device or rheostat for the controller of an electric car and is adapted to be moved from one position Where its heating effect is utilized to warm the interior of the car to an other position where its heat does not affect the temperture of the interior of the car.

In the accompanying drawings,which illustrate an application of my invention, Figure 1 is a longitudinal section of a portion of a car, showing the location of the electric heaters beneath the car-seats, a part being broken away to show one of the heaters. Fig. 2 is a cross-sectional View, on a larger scale, of a part of a car, showing the seat and two locations of the heater. Fig. 3 is a similar View showing a slight change in one of the positions of the heater.

According to my invention, as shown in the drawings, the electric heaters 1 are normally supported beneath the seats 2 of the car and may be secured by means of screws or in any suitable manner to the upright piece 8. An air-casing having top and bottom front openings 5 and 6 and a deflector 4: for the circulation of air over the heater may be employed, if desired. As the heater also constitutes the resistance device or rheostat for the controller to regulate the current in starting and stopping the car and is subject to the heating effects at all times when the car is operated, means must be pro vided whereby the heating effects will not render the interior of the car uncomfortable during warm weather. For this purpose there is an opening 7, normally closed by a cover 8, in the floor 9 of the car beneath the heaters, and the heaters are provided with flexible electrical connections 10, whereby they may be lowered through the openings in the floor and secured outside of the car, where their heat will have no efiect upon the temperature of the interior of the car. In Fig. 2 I have shown the outside position of the heater in dotted lines as secured in a vertical position to a bracket 11, hung beneath the car, while in Fig. 3 the heater is shown as turned to a horizontal position and secured at 12 to the under side of the car-floor.

While I have shown an arrangement in which the heaters are located either under the seats of the car or beneath the car-floor, my invention is not limited to these particular locations, but is understood to cover any construction in which a movable electric heater for cars is located in one position to warm the interior of the car and may be moved to another position in which its heat will not affect the interior of the car.

Having now described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Let ters Patent, is

1. The combination on a car, of a seat, an electric heater normally supported beneath said seat, and a floor having an opening near the heater for allowing said heater to be moved to the space beneath the floor of the car.

2. In an electric car, the combination with a movable electric heater and means for supporting the same above the car-floor, of a support beneath the car-floor and an opening in the floor near said support for allowing said heater to be moved through the floor of the car.

3, In an electric car, the combination with tenses 

